Word study
Run
13 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: run, ran, running, runs. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “run” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רוּץ rûtsruntranslated this way 53 times of its 103 uses · Strong’s H7323Verb · Translated: ran 22, run 21, guards 11, couriers 6Full study and all 92 verses →
Genesis 18:2 And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Numbers 11:27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
- נוּס nûsflee, escapetranslated this way 15 times of its 157 uses · Strong’s H5127Verb · Translated: fled 65, flee 47, ran 5, run 5Full study and all 141 verses →
Genesis 39:13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,
Exodus 4:3 “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.
- בָּרַח bârachgo through, fleetranslated this way 9 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H1272Verb · Translated: fled 30, flee 9, ran away 3, running away 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Genesis 16:8 “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.
Exodus 36:33 He made the central crossbar to run through the center of the frames, from one end to the other.
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 7 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
Genesis 2:14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
- יָרַד yâradcome or go down, descendtranslated this way 5 times of its 372 uses · Strong’s H3381Verb · Translated: went 56, go 55, come 35, came 26Full study and all 341 verses →
Joshua 18:16 Then it went down to the foot of the hill that faces the Valley of Ben-hinnom at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim and ran down the Valley of Hinnom toward the southern slope of the Jebusites and downward to En-rogel.
1 Samuel 21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 5 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- מָלַט mâlaṭslip awaytranslated this way 5 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H4422Verb · Translated: escaped 22, escape 20, deliver 6, delivered 5Full study and all 85 verses →
Genesis 19:17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
1 Samuel 19:11 Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
- דָּקַר dâqarpierce, pierce throughtranslated this way 4 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H1856Verb · Translated: run 3, pierced 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Judges 9:54 He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.
1 Samuel 31:4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 3 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
Joshua 15:3 proceeded south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continued on to Zin, went over to the south of Kadesh-barnea, ran past Hezron up to Addar, and curved toward Karka.
Joshua 15:10 The border curled westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), went down to Beth-shemesh, and crossed to Timnah.
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
Genesis 39:12 She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
- חָסֵר châsêrlack, need, be lacking, decreasetranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H2637Verb · Translated: lack 4, lacked 3, run dry 2, lacks 2Full study and all 21 verses →
1 Kings 17:14 for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”
1 Kings 17:16 The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.
- חָרַב chârabbe dry, dried uptranslated this way 2 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2717Verb · Translated: dried 7, laid waste 6, dry 4, Kill 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Hosea 13:15 Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come — a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
Nahum 1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
Greek words (New Testament)
- τρέχω tréchōI run, exercise myselftranslated this way 16 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G5143Verb · Translated: ran 6, run 5, running 4Full study and all 17 verses →
Matthew 27:48 One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink.
Mark 5:6 When the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him.
- φεύγω pheúgōI flee, escape, shuntranslated this way 6 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G5343Verb · Translated: flee 13, fled 6, ran 3, escape 3Full study and all 29 verses →
Matthew 8:33 Those tending the pigs ran off into the town and reported all this, including the account of the demon-possessed men.
Mark 5:14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
- προστρέχω prostréchōI run totranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4370Verb · Translated: ran 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Mark 9:15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe and ran to greet Him.
Acts 8:30 So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
- ἐκπίπτω ekpíptōI fall out, fall off, fall away, fade away, wither awaytranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1601Verb · Translated: run aground 3, fall 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 27:17 After hoisting it up, the crew used ropes to undergird the ship. And fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.
Acts 27:26 However, we must run aground on some island.”
- συντρέχω syntréchōI run withtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4936Verb · Translated: ran together 1, ran 1, plunge 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Mark 6:33 But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them.
Acts 3:11 While the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and ran to them in the walkway called Solomon’s Colonnade.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.